Sebastian Stan is content to continue playing Bucky Barnes/ Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as long as Marvel will let him.
Speaking on the Just for Variety podcast, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier actor admitted he has "no idea" how much longer his time in the MCU will actually last, stating "It’s not up to me. I don’t make these decisions. As long as they’ll keep calling, I’m there. I don’t know. I get old, too. Like everyone in the world, I AGE! So I don’t know what that means. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything! I have no idea. I’m just going for the ride."
Stan made his first appearance as Bucky in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, prior to the character's transformation into the brainwashed Hydra assassin known as Winter Soldier for its sequel, the aptly-named Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in 2014. Bucky has since gone on a personal journey to recover his sense of identity and make peace with the horrors of his past, culminating with his appearance in Disney+'s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The series ended with him find some emotional closure after reaching out to the loved ones of those he killed as the Winter Soldier, before ultimately leaving his fate up in the air.
When Variety jokingly asked if Stan could envision himself playing Bucky into his 80s, Stan replied "May I be so lucky. It’s really quite wild, it really is. A lot of people on TV, there are shows that have gone on for so many seasons, Friends, I mean, there’s a lot of where... you get to go and play a character for such a long period of time. It’s like gaining a family member. You gain, like, a brother or something in this case for me. You get to see this character again and again, and then you’re always growing up, and they’re sort of growing up with you in a weird way."
As for the immediate future, it's possible Stan will end up reprising his role as Bucky in Captain America 4. The film is being penned by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's head writer writer Malcolm Spellman and is expected to build on the show's finale, which ended with Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson/Falcon assuming the mantle of Captain America.
Directed by Kari Skogland and written by Malcolm Spellman, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/The Falcon, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/Captain America, Erin Kellyman as Karli Morgenthau, Adepero Oduye as Sarah Wilson, Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Clé Bennett as Lemar Hoskins/Battlestar, Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley and Daniel Brühl as Baron Helmut Zemo. The first season is available to stream on Disney+.
Source: Variety, via The Direct